Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
UPDATE: Typhoon Soudelor Nears Taiwan; China Next: AccuWeather Report
Aug 7 2015 // AccuWeather has reported that “powerful Typhoon Soudelor will bring both flooding rainfall and damaging winds to Taiwan as the storm remains on a collision course with the island.” The report noted that...
UPDATE: from AIR: Typhoon Soudelor Nears Taiwan as Season’s Strongest
Aug 6 2015 // According to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide, Typhoon Soudelor is “the strongest tropical cyclone anywhere on earth thus far in 2015 based upon estimated wind speed.” The storm is continuing on its path...
West Virginia Purchases Second Drone to Assess Natural Disaster Damage
Aug 6 2015 // West Virginia’s Department of Transportation has purchased its second drone. The Charleston Gazette reports that the $3,500 drone will be used to help provide views of hard-to-reach or inaccessible areas. Department...
Firefighters Make Progress Against Raging California Wildfire
Aug 5 2015 // Firefighters are reporting some progress against a Northern California wildfire that has charred more than 100 square miles of terrain, destroying buildings, threatening many others and sending thousands of residents...
Super Typhoon Soudelor Threatens China & Taiwan: AccuWeather Report
Aug 5 2015 // AccuWeather has reported that Typhoon Soudelor “rapidly intensified on Monday, becoming a super typhoon and reaching the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic or Eastern Pacific...
Texas Seeks Comment on Rules for Changes to Windstorm Insurer
Aug 4 2015 // The Texas Department of Insurance is seeking public comment on drafts of rules for implementing legislation that alters funding mechanisms for the state’s property insurer of last resort for wind and hail along the...
Wet Weather Helps in Battling Massive California Wildfire
Aug 4 2015 // Cooler, wetter weather helped crews make inroads Monday against a massive Northern California wildfire that tore through two dozen homes, threatened thousands more and forced 12,000 people to flee the flames. The largest...
Cooler Conditions Help Firefighters Battle Southwest Oregon Wildfire
Aug 4 2015 // Clouds and the end of triple-digit heat helped firefighters battling the Stouts wildfire in southwest Oregon. Fire spokesman Dave Wells says the blaze is only 3 percent contained, but crews made good progress on the fire...
Another Earthquake Shakes Northern Oklahoma
Aug 3 2015 // Another earthquake has shaken parts of northern Oklahoma near the Kansas border. The U.S. Geological Survey says the 3.6 magnitude earthquake was recorded at 3:28 p.m. on Aug. 1 about 11 miles south-southwest of Medford in...
California, Pacific Northwest Schools Get $4M for Earthquake Early Warning Systems
Aug 3 2015 // The U.S. Geological Survey has awarded $4 million to four universities in the Pacific Northwest and California to boost the development of earthquake early warning systems. The University of Washington, the University of...
Raging California Wildfire Jumps Containment
Aug 3 2015 // Firefighters aided by lower temperatures and higher humidity have made progress corralling a wildfire threatening thousands of homes in Northern California. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Capt. Don...
Hurricane Katrina: A Look Back After Ten Years
Aug 3 2015 // This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic. The Atlantic was active from the start of the 2005 hurricane season. By late August, there had already been 10 named storms, including one Category 4 and one Category...
Weather Service Confirms Tornado Struck North Dakota City
Jul 31 2015 // The National Weather Service has confirmed that storm damage in Tolna, N.D. was caused by a tornado. The tornado last week was rated an EF-1, with an estimated peak wind speed of 110 mph. It was on the ground for about 4...
Firefighters Hold California Wildfire That Jumped Line
Jul 30 2015 // Crews battling the toughest of several wildfires burning across the state held their ground late Wednesday, keeping a blaze east of California’s Napa Valley from jumping any more containment lines, fire officials...
Japan Earthquake Premiums to Rise as Insurers Reassess Risk After Fukushima
Jul 30 2015 // Japan’s insurance companies are pushing for an average 19 percent increase in earthquake premiums as they reassess risk following the unprecedented magnitude 9 quake four years ago. The increase could come into...
Oregon County Updates Natural Disaster Plan to Deal with Cascadia
Jul 29 2015 // Deschutes County in Oregon has updated its plan for dealing with natural disasters, including the potential Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake that recently received national attention. The Bulletin reported that county...
Earthquake Shakes Alaska’s Aleutian Islands
Jul 29 2015 // The U.S. Geological Survey is reporting no damage from a strong earthquake that rocked Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. The quake struck at 8:49 p.m. Sunday and was centered 45 miles southwest of the village of Nikolski...
Indiana School to Build Tornado Safe Room with $1.6M Grant
Jul 28 2015 // Federal officials have awarded a southern Indiana school district $1.6 million to build a tornado safe room at an elementary school. The grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will allow Salem Community Schools...
More Wildfires in California, But Less Damage
Jul 28 2015 // The number of California wildfires so far this year is up, but the acreage burned is smaller, the result of favorable weather and more firefighters who can quickly be dispatched to corral flames, fire officials say. Since...
Northern California Wildfire Threatens Homes, Prompts Evacuations
Jul 27 2015 // A Northern California wildfire raced through more than six square miles of drought-stricken timber over the weekend, threatening at least 150 rural homes in the Sierra Nevada, authorities said. The blaze forced evacuations...
